The Truth Through the Cracks
by themightymetaphor
Summary: When Rose and the new Doctor are left in Pete's world Rose holds on to the old Doctor, but will she every love the new one? A continuation of Rose and the new Doctor's lives after Bad Wolf Bay.
1. The Big Bad Wolf

A.N. Doctor Who and all its characters belong to their respective owners I don't own any of it except in my dreams :) So I'm alittle rusty. It's been a while since I've written anything but here you go. I hope to have time to continue this for a while. I would appreciate constructive critism a lot. Oh and I'm from the good old US of A but I'm trying my hardest to use the proper venacular and slang that all the characters would use. Enjoy!

Silence. It took nearly an hour for Pete Tyler to arrive at Bad Wolf Bay with little Tony. That hour was the most confusing hour of Rose Tyler's life. Her mind was racing. So fast it began to ache. She saw the Doctor, her Doctor, stepping into the TARDIS and leaving. Did he not feel the pain anymore?

"Oh God, what if it never even mattered to him."

The though saturated her brain and precipitated a cloud of memories that made the man sitting right next to her nothing but a fog of heartache. A mere sixty minutes ago he was given to her almost as a gift, but right now she could hardly even see him as a consolation prize. Her Doctor wanted to do what was best for her, but she knew that all she needed was him, the man that she loved from the beginning no matter how impossible he was. All she got of him though was a copy. A copy with one heart and a human life expectancy, and that was more impossible to grasp than any distance she'd ever traveled through space and time. If she would ever be able to love him like her Doctor, the real Doctor, Rose hadn't the slightest idea.

"I just have to give her time," The new Doctor repeated in his head what must have been a thousand times.

"This is just new to her. It's new to me too but then again I guess everything is. But I am him, and he loved her more than unconditionally, therefore, so do I. I remember every thought, every feeling, every countless time that the original Doctor thought of how beautiful she looked, how many times he wanted to kiss her."

Regardless of the first Doctor, this new Doctor knew that he thought this too, and they were his thoughts now. He didn't need the original to know that he loved her

"Rose," he said as he hopped off of the boulder he was sitting on.

Again silence. He had been born into madness and chaos. This was a first, but he prayed that this would be the first of many first he would experience with Rose Tyler. His first proper house, his first job, settling down, getting married, having his first child; if he had it his way he would be living out his new, and only, half human life with her doing all these things.

As he approached her she put her head in between her knees, and he swore he saw her shake. The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder and sat down right next to her.

"Do you want to talk?"

She shrugged her shoulders and shook some more. So he kneeled in front of her, took her head in his hands, pulled it out from between her knees and looked deep into her teary hazel eyes.

"I'll wait however long you want me to Rose Tyler. I'm not giving up," he said with all the sincerity heart possessed.

Rose stared back into his eyes just a matter of seconds then returned her head to its former hiding spot in her knees. Then they sat there. They sat there in their bubble of silence until Jackie broke it and said, "Come on you lot our ride's here."


	2. The Beginning

"Okay then, there's a room right in the back that you'll stay in. Rose'll show you. Won't you Rose? Right then I'll leave you too it and make some tea," Jackie said as they entered the Tyler Mansion.

She didn't seem the least bit disappointed in the new Doctor. She had come to love the original Doctor. In no way like Rose, but that was the best bit, because this Doctor could be just the same as the old one to her. Therefore, she did not envy her daughter's position right now. Jackie was never the cleverest, but she knew that one day Rose would realized that the man she had now wasn't just a place keeper. For the first time Jackie was the only one as clever as the Doctor because for some reason she knew that he was the real thing, and if Rose didn't get her act together and open her eyes she was going to be miserable her whole life. Why did she need to be chasing stars when Jackie saw them in the Doctor's eyes every time he looked at Rose. This Doctor, not just the original. As she sat down at the table with her tea she bowed her head and closed her eyes just hoping for a happy daughter.

"Sorry it's not made up real well, but it'll have to do. Mum had move a ton of stuff around when Tony came, so everything's a bit messy," Rose said almost completely monotone upon entering the guest bedroom.

"That's ok it's brilliant. A nice warm bed sounds great right now anyways," the Doctor replied hoping his normal goofy grin would make Rose feel less tense. When he saw that he was unsuccessful he just plopped himself down on the big mattress and twittled his thumbs. Rose was still standing in the doorway staring at, but it was almost indiscernible what emotion was behind her eyes.

"Rose."

"Oh what?" she said as she broke out of her stone-like trance.

"Where do you stay?"

"I've got a flat in the city closer to Torchwood, but I think I might be staying here for a couple of days. I've got a room here and all. Dad's got a bit of land. I need the fresh air and space right now, and if Torchwood doesn't give me a couple of days off after helping save the universe then they've got one hell of a headache coming to them," Rose replied just as monotonously as before.

"Oh. Okay, well I guess I'll see you in the morning then," the Doctor said wishing there was more. Wishing her could get her to stay and just talk to him. He wanted to explain so much. He had so much to say to her. He knew he could make her see that he was the real Doctor if she would only listen.

But, "Yeah, night then," was all she had to say.


	3. The First Step

"No, Doctor Come back! Please! Don't leave me!" Rose screamed, thrashing around in her bed.

Visions of her Doctor filled her dreams. The picture of him leaving in the TARDIS for the last time was burned into her brain, and she had hoped that sleep would give her at least a fleeting escape from it. However, after two hours of staring at the ceiling, frequent intervals of tears, and a good dose of Nyquil as a last resort Rose soon discovered that unconsciousness couldn't even give her the peace she craved. She felt desperate for the goodbye that she never got, abandoned by the Time Lord she could never have, and torn apart by man currently residing in the room down the hall. The deepest part of her wanted to ease the pain by accepting the half human as the true Doctor, but for now she would just stay in denial. She knew she had exactly one lifetime to figure it out, so tonight she admitted herself to wallow in heartbreak and resentment.

Rose had wondered if the old Doctor really loved her like the new Doctor had whispered in her ear less than a day ago. If he did then at least that was something to hold onto. Maybe he was out there travelling along in the other universe thinking about her. That fantasy would have to be enough to go on for a little bit.

The Doctor heard Rose screaming from the room down the hall, but how he was to react he did not know. He wanted to run down, there scoop her in his arms, and assure her that everything was okay. He knew that the list of things he was unable to fix was incredibly short, and this was one of those things that could not be talked out with wit and brains or fixed with a sonic screwdriver. So he did the only thing he could bear to do. He couldn't stand sitting there while she was in pain. He would much rather endure whatever treatment Rose decided to put him through than to not try. The Doctor broke the circle he had been pacing in and walked down the hall.

"Rose," he uttered behind the closed door.

"Uh huh," he heard her reply.

"Can I come in?"

"Uh huh," she muttered again.

Rose's eyes were red and puffy, and her blonde hair was messy around her face. When the Doctor looked into her eyes he saw a scared confused little girl. A little girl that he just wanted to hold.

"I heard you crying," the Doctor finally managed to say.

"Yeah, what about it," she replied with the tiniest bit of sass.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay." His voice was full of concern and love, and he hoped with all his singular heart that she heard it.

"Yeah, well this is almost nothing compared to the first time the Doctor left me. I didn't sleep for a week. The first night I cried so hard I nearly threw up," she said matter of factly.

"He didn't leave you Rose."

Her voice elevated in both pitch and volume as she said, "He walked away. He's in another universe with the TARDIS and two hearts! He's gone with everything I knew. Don't you dare tell me that he didn't leave me!"

"I'm still here Rose. I am him," the new Doctor said.

The Doctor kept calm the whole time. He knew nothing would come of getting over excited; however, Rose was on the verge of hysteria. Part of her wanted to resent this man forever, but part of her wanted to give him a chance. It was the combination of those two feelings that was making her want to scream.

"Rose." He put his hand on her face. "I will wait for you I swear I will. I hope with all of my heart that one day you will see that the difference between me and him is only one heart, and I really hope that you didn't just love him because he had two of them."

` "No, of course that's not it." She calmed down a little bit at his words, but she sounded slightly ashamed.

"Then why did you love him?"

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, and when she opened them she began her list.

"He was just. Everything. He made me laugh, he made me better, he made me brave. I knew I was safe with him no matter what we got ourselves into. And God," she permitted herself to giggle, "that hair."

The Doctor smiled when he heard her laugh and unconsciously ran his fingers through his hair.

She continued. "It was the goofy way he smiled, and the clever way he could talk himself out of anything. He was the kindest person or alien I've ever met. I couldn't help it I just fell in love with him." She was staring at the floor the whole time, but when she finished she looked up and focused in on the half human, half Time Lord standing in front of her. He had the same eyes, the same captivating orange eyes. She was suddenly hypnotized that he truly was identical to the Time Lord she loved.

"Rose Tyler," he finally replied, "I am all those things. Everything he ever was so am I, and I have all of his memories. It's strange, but I feel like that was me the whole time."

"Do you want to come sit on the bed?" Rose offered.

The Doctor's eyes lit up. To him this felt like the tiniest baby step. That small offer was somehow a glimmer of light. He sat down on the edge of the bed a person's width away from Rose. He was absolutely dumbfounded, however, when she scooted close to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

She slipped her small hand into his and in the softest voice said, "Doctor, you won't ever leave me will you?"

"Never," he whispered

"Maybe you'll be able to give me everything he ever did and the one thing he never could."

"Rose Tyler I'd give you anything," the Doctor promised sincerely.

Rose removed her head from his shoulder, looked into his eyes and muttered, "Then give me a kiss."

The Doctor's heart skipped a beat. He stared back into her eyes in disbelief, because he knew that this kiss was more that the overwhelming rush of emotions that had cause Rose to kiss him on Bad Wolf Bay. This was going to be real, from her heart to his not from her to the original Doctor. He put his hand on her cheek, pulled her face into his, and when their lips touched both Rose and the Doctor, her Doctor, knew that everything was going to be okay.


End file.
